The Antrim planning board will need a site visit and at least one more meeting before making a decision on a proposed 175-foot cell tower.
The board ruled Thursday that the application from Vertex Tower Assets, LLC and New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLc – a trade name for AT&T Mobility – was complete and that the project would have a regional impact on Windsor, Stoddard, and Hillsborough.
Because of the regional impact, which the board decided would be mostly visual in nature, a certified letter will be sent to each of the town’s select boards and the regional planning commission – giving them the right to testify as an abutter at the next meeting.
“I don’t want to say it’s invisible… but the visual impact is minimal,” said Rhode Island attorney Francis Parisi, who was representing the applicants at the meeting. Parisi showed photos Thursday of a recent balloon test – simulating the height of the tower – noting that the tower would not be visible from many locations in town.
If approved, the applicants would construct a 175-foot lattice-style tower on a vacant, wooded 20-acre parcel of land at the end of Loverns Mill Road abutting the Windsor town line. The facility in question will be 60 feet by 60 feet and placed near the middle of the property.
The wireless service facility is proposed to be built to accommodate up to five wireless broadband telecommunications carriers, with AT&T already having an agreement in place to put a panel-style antenna and other equipment at the facility.
Parisi said the tower will primarily provide service to the Route 9 corridor in Antrim and will also be able to be used for emergency communications in the area, including the ability to have Antrim police and fire put their antennas on the structure.
“It’s a win win for telecommunications companies, public safety, and the nearby towns,” Parisi said.
Parisi said the tower will not in fact be a 5G tower, but will be designed with the future in mind.
The applicants filed a conditional use permit and a site plan review for the project. Six waivers have also been requested: that no wireless service facility shall be over 100 feet tall, that a ground mounted wireless service facility shall not be more than 20 feet over the tree line within a 50-foot radius of the installation, that the facility needs to be more than twice the tower’s height away from any building, property line, public road, or public recreational area, that any antenna array shall not be more than four feet in diameter, that lattice towers are prohibited, and a waiver from the submission of a formal storm water drainage plan.
Parisi said the project will not be feasible without all of the waivers being granted, as the facility has been designed in a way to allow proper coverage.
“It’s more than a hardship, it’s impossible,” Parisi said. “… there’s no viable alternative.”
All public comment for the meeting was pushed to the next meeting – Jan. 3 at 7:15 p.m. – as the meeting had already run for two hours. About 15 people were in attendance at the meeting.
The site visit has been scheduled for Dec. 29 at 9 a.m.